SailTime lets you test the waters by leasing a boat

Ever thought about leasing a boat? Visit Sailtime at the Detroit Boat Show.

Not everybody who goes to the Detroit Boat show has a boat or is even sure that they want a boat. Some are just “boat-curious.”

If you want to test the waters to see if sailing is for you, “The most expensive way is to buy your own boat,” said Jim Kaza, owner of SailTime Detroit, which offers a less expensive option: “fractional sailing” or leasing a boat.

“Fractional sailing is kind of like a gym membership,” Kaza said. “You don’t own the equipment,” but membership allows you to use it whenever you want, plus it’s kept maintained for you. “We do the same thing with Hunter Yachts.”

SailTime “is directed toward people who would like to go sailing but don’t want the expense of keeping a boat,” or the hassle of the work, such as retirees or doctors, engineers and other busy professionals.

Advertisement

“It’s a great opportunity to get into sailing” without going to the enormous expense of buying a boat, first. Kaza estimates that “20 to 30 percent of those who leave the program wind up buying their own boat.”

With SailTime, you pay a fee to use a fully equipped 33-foot sailboat for a period of time, a year for new members, and then a month-by-month basis.

The cost is about $425 per month, with a 5 percent discount for lump-sum payments, plus a one-time membership fee of $1,000 and a security deposit of $1,500 ($1,000 of which is refundable).

You don’t have to be an experienced mariner, Kaza said. “We can teach someone to sail,” Kaza said. The American Sailing Association’s class is two days, from 9 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m., of which only one hour is spent on land.

Once you’ve taken the class, you’ll need to add another two-to-four days to get comfortable sailing on your own. “There are no street signs or stop signs on the water, “so you need to learn the rules of the road,” Kaza said.

The two-day ASA course, included at no extra charge with a SailTime membership, can cost $450 all by itself.

SailTime Detroit also lets you test what size boat you need. The 33-footers, with cabin space for six, are considered “midsize cruisers.”

“Sailing is one of those things where, if you’ve had the dream, you ought to pursue it,” Kaza said. “If you don’t like it, find something else to do.”

Kaza’s love of sailing was sparked in the ‘60s by seeing photographs of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on his sailboat. “It looked very appealing,” said Kaza, who bought his first sailboat, a Sunfish and one of the most popular sailboats in North America, if not the world, in 1986. From there he progressed to a Chrysler 26, then a Hunter 280, and now a Hunter 33. “A year or two later, I came upon SailTime,” an international company created by and for sailors, and bought the Michigan operation.

“The very best way to go sailing,” Kaza jokes, “is to find a friend who has a boat” and get invited along.

SailTime Detroit operates out of the Shore Club Apartments and Marina in St. Clair Shores (shoreclubapartments.com). For more information, stop by SailTime’s table in the Nautical Mile Merchants Association booth at the Detroit Boat Show, visit sailtime.com/detroit or call 586-838-8714.